Mother-in-law of former Mexican pol Humberto Moriera agrees to give government her San Antonio home

Former Coahuila governor Humberto Moreira, pictured here in 2006 at the Texas Capitol in Austin, is the subject of an investigation by the U.S. government. He hasn’t been charged with a crime, but in September 2016 his mother-in-law agreed to give up her San Antonio house as part of the probe. Moreira was head of Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party but resigned in 2011 over a financial scandal that threatened the party's efforts to rebrand itself as corruption-free and retake the presidency in 2012. less

Former Coahuila governor Humberto Moreira, pictured here in 2006 at the Texas Capitol in Austin, is the subject of an investigation by the U.S. government. He hasn’t been charged with a crime, but in ... more

Photo: Harry Cabluck /Associated Press

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Herminia Martinez DelaFuente is the mother-in-law of former Coahuila governor Humberto Moreira. U.S. prosecutors have filed a lawsuit to forfeit Martinez's North Side home as part of the investigation into millions of dollars that were stolen from Coahuila and laundered in Texas. Her lawyer says she bought the house with legitimate funds. less

Herminia Martinez DelaFuente is the mother-in-law of former Coahuila governor Humberto Moreira. U.S. prosecutors have filed a lawsuit to forfeit Martinez's North Side home as part of the investigation into ... more

Photo: COURTESY / Courtesy Photo

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The North Pointe Shopping Center at U.S. 281 and Redlands Drive was auctioned Aug. 25. The property was seized from the former treasurer of the Mexican state of Coahuila. Hector Javier Villarreal, the former treasurer, pleaded guilty to financial crimes after prosecutors accused him of laundering in Texas tens of millions of dollars stolen from the state. less

The North Pointe Shopping Center at U.S. 281 and Redlands Drive was auctioned Aug. 25. The property was seized from the former treasurer of the Mexican state of Coahuila. Hector Javier Villarreal, the former ... more

Photo: Billy Calzada /San Antonio Express-News

Mother-in-law of former Mexican pol Humberto Moriera agrees to give government her San Antonio home

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The mother-in-law of Humberto Moreira, a former Mexico border governor who once led the country’s ruling party, has agreed to turn over her North Side home to the U.S. government, records show.

The civil lawsuit federal prosecutors filed last year was settled in secret court proceedings, but Bexar County property records made public Friday show that the Internal Revenue Service will take control of the house in the gated Greystone Country Estates at the intersection of Blanco and Huebner roads.

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Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez signed off on prosecutors’ requests to seal the terms of their settlement with Herminia Martinez de la Fuente, Moreira’s mother-in-law and the listed owner of the house since 2009.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office asked that the documents be sealed “in the interest of courtesy” — unusual language that does not fully state what risk would come from the settlement being public. After the judge signed the seal order, Daryl Fields, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said he could not “comment on matters which the court has placed under seal.”

The 3,900-square-foot house, complete with a swimming pool and hot tub, is appraised at $600,000. It will eventually be sold at auction, according to a redacted version of Rodriguez’s order prosecutors filed with the county clerk’s office.

A lawyer for Martinez de la Fuente did not respond to a phone call and an email seeking comment.

An affidavit by an Internal Revenue Service agent containing allegations about Martinez de La Fuente’s purchase of the house was filed under seal, and remains secret. In one of the few publicly available documents in the case, prosecutors alleged the house was bought as part of a money-laundering scheme.

Moreira, who was arrested in Spain earlier this year before getting his charges thrown out, has not been charged with a crime in the U.S. In San Antonio federal court proceedings, however, two witnesses have accused him of taking bribes from drug traffickers and government contractors.

At least six people have been charged in federal courts in Corpus Christi and San Antonio in connection with the investigation. On social media and through his U.S. lawyer, Moreira has said he was not involved in any crimes. The Coahuila government has said it can’t find evidence to support the U.S. government’s allegations that former Coahuila treasurer Héctor Javier Villarreal used money stolen from the state to buy property in San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley.

Earlier this year, former Zetas financial operative Rodrigo Humberto Uribe Tapia testified that he was involved in paying millions of dollars in bribes to one of Moreira’s top aides. Current Coahuila government officials and Moreira called into question Uribe’s testimony because he is a paid informant who claimed to be a hit man in a reality television show appearance.

In the plea agreement of Mexican media mogul Rolando González Treviño, who admitted last year in a San Antonio federal court to conspiring to transport stolen goods as part of the Coahuila investigation, prosecutors alleged that the former governor traveled to San Antonio in 2009 to meet with González.

Moreira is not identified by name in the document, but U.S. officials confirmed to the Express-News that he’s among the unnamed co-conspirators who, according the plea agreement, met with González at The Club at Sonterra to discuss using $1 million stolen from the state to buy some of the businessman’s media holdings.